Cash and the ATO | Melbourne Accountant

The ATO has released a statement that they will no longer take kindly to small businesses which are taking cash payments under the table and not declaring as income earned. The ATO has committed itself to squashing this problem out of the Australian economy.

Its latest weapon against this issue is the setting of benchmarks for each of the industries and if your business happens to fall out of this benchmark be aware that you will most likely be getting a second look at your financial situation by the ATO. They have set these individual benchmarks for each of the industries with the help of data matching programs and information from banks.

The ATO is expected to keep an eye out this year on 200,000 of which 100,000 will be getting contacted by the ATO. The ATO is using information from banks to go through business activity statements and other data, which they then compile the benchmark for each industry. With these benchmarks in place all that is left is to compare them to the business tax returns and if the returns fall short of this benchmark, red flags will be raised and your business will get a meticulous look into it’s financial situation.

So far the there have been 15 industries which have had a benchmark set against them

• Restaurants
• Cafes
• Takeaway food restaurants
• Newsagents
• Hairdressers
• Beauty services
• Clothing/Retail
• Florists
• Pubs/Bars
• Grocery shops and general stores
• Fruit and Vegetable retailers
• Butchers
• Fuel retail
• Hardware and building supplies
• Garden supplies retail

These are just some of the industries on the ATO’s watch list, please do not expect that if your industry is not on the list that the ATO has forgotten about you. The ATO is constantly renewing and setting new benchmarks for other industries too. The ATO is always increasing its search of tax dodgers.  

To fight the “Cash under the Table” issue the ATO has been give $445 million to take this battle against business who under report. It is projected that this project will uncover $3.2 billion in lost revenue.

Therefore as a small business think twice whether you seriously wish not to disclose all your income, as you run the risk of being caught and seriously fined.